The other thing is that it manages to pull good quality audio off very poor bandwidth. I'm not sure what codec they are using but it kicks butt.

sergio
/ 2006-04-03 11:27:

I agree with Taj. While voice-chat options have existed on standard IMs for a good while, skype quality makes it really worth it now.

jb
/ 2006-04-03 12:07:

They use iLBC.

Skype is a sad thing. Why, oh why, do you use an application which business idea is to compete in the VoIP arena with secret protocols and proprietary encryption?

Use kphone! If you just want over-internet calls, set up (or use any of the numerous free) SIP proxies (ser is a hundred k, asterisk is a bit larger). If you want a real phone number, you can buy that too, much cheaper than POTS (that's something Skype doesn't even offer!).